The First Sister
by writetobeararms
Summary: Before Rosalie and Alice, there was Ellie. Set in 1920, shortly after Esme joined Edward and Carlisle. Updated and complete :
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so after reading what I had posted of this story and finishing the rest of it up, I made a few changes in the chapters I had posted before. Nothing big, just some editing I had missed.

Also, I really suck at remembering to post chapter after chapter, so I just did the whole thing at once. Please, please review and let me know what you think of the whole thing! And thank you to my two fabulous reviewers and the other people who have been silently reading :)

I think that's about it. Clearly, I don't own Stephenie Meyer's characters, or else I would most likely not be posting stuff online for free, haha... I do own Ellie, my scatterbrain came up with her all on my own. Aided and abetted by my boredom in class and my willingness to procrastinate doing homework. Ahhh, school.

Okay, enjoy! The setting is 1920 in a rural Illinois town outside of Chicago. And now, presenting... drumroll

**The First Sister**

Years later, Ellie would look back and wonder how very different her life would be if she hadn't decided to go to the clearing—_her_ clearing—that fateful gray August day. But unlike most young women her age, she had neither fear of the threat of rain nor any qualms with starting conversations with strange boys in the middle of the woods. Most of the Sisters, the women who had raised her for as long as she could remember, disapproved of her sometimes outrageous displays of independence, but this was the quality she most admired in herself. Like her beloved Sister Marguerite had instructed her since she was young, God gave us free will to make our own choices.

As Ellie pulled her bicycle over at the end of the wood's trail to continue on foot, she sighed. Sister Marguerite was the one person at the convent she could always depend on to understand and stand up for her. She had more or less taken Ellie under her wing since she was anonymously dropped on the convent's doorstep 20 years ago, and was the closest thing Ellie had to a mother, despite the fact she was more than 60 years her senior. She encouraged Ellie's questioning nature and laughed at the outlandish statements that sometimes flew out of her mouth, whereas the other Sisters would rather reprimand her. Beyond convent life, Ellie and Sister Marguerite shared a special bond—when Sister Marguerite first picked Ellie up off the convent stoop, she learned Ellie's secret, and had since been the only other person in the world that knew it. Ellie was what Sister Marguerite called "blessed." Since she was a baby, she had the unbelievable ability to heal herself. Ellie suspected this was a big reason, if not _the_ reason why her own mother abandoned her 20 years ago. But where others would have turned Ellie over to the circus or an institution, Sister Marguerite saw nothing but a child who needed love and shelter.

As Sister Marguerite got on in her years, her health was beginning to fade. The new doctor in town had prescribed bed rest, but the feisty Sister was having difficulty accepting idleness after years of continuous labor for the Church. Ellie was spending more and more of her time acting as Sister Marguerite's spy within the convent and running non-stop errands at her request. Some chores she loved, like taking over Sister Marguerite's job as the church's Sunday school teacher or children's choir director, but she dreaded having to face the other Sisters without her elderly, tough-as-nails comrade-in-arms beside her. The one thing Ellie truly wanted more than anything else in the world was for Sister Marguerite to be able to see her accept the convent vows and be shown that all the time and love she spent on raising Ellie was well worth it. But between Ellie's constant head-butting with the Mother Superior and Sister Marguerite's rapidly declining health, she seriously doubted whether that was in "God's plan," as Mother Superior would say.

Sister Marguerite was the reason Ellie was spending her lunch today trekking through the woods on foot, not that she minded it. At a young age, Ellie sought refuge from the convent's rigid rules and the townspeople's prying eyes full of pity in this clearing. Her having been dropped at the convent's steps as a baby was an event the town had never really recovered from, even though almost two decades had passed since then. The clearing was where Ellie escaped this reality. Because she was soon to become a full-fledged nun, idleness of this nature should have been something she frowned upon, but the clearing had an irresistible, latent pull on her spirit. She wasn't sure why this was, but something about the way the wild animals approached her without fear, or the way the sun was filtered through the encircling treetops onto the clearing, or the absolute peace that overwhelmed her in this spot made her believe that here, more so than in any roofed church, she was closest to God. This summer, the wildflowers were outdoing themselves in color and brightness, and Ellie wanted to capture some of that vibrancy and bring it into Sister Marguerite's sparse living quarters—or jail cell, as she thought of it.

Her mind was with Sister Marguerite back at the convent as she approached the clearing. As a gentle breeze crossed her path, she was enveloped in a peculiar foreign scent. Were the wildflowers responsible for this? It was as sweet as the convent kitchen after the Sisters made pastries for the local children on Christmas and Easter, and made her mouth water strangely. At the same time, something about its foreignness made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up at attention, as if they were preparing for an attack. Was her body simply responding to a change in the weather? She doubted it.

Cautiously entering the clearing, senses aflame, her eyes spotted a boy she guessed to be her age hunched over on the log she so frequently used as a bench to read and lounge upon. Although nothing about him screamed predator—his back was turned to her—she couldn't quench the uneasy feeling that had suddenly come over her. What was this boy doing in her supposedly secret clearing? In all her 20 years, she had never come across any other human here. That was when she noticed his hair, which was the same peculiar shade of bronze as hers, and took in the absolute stillness of his posture, which was what she imagined must be what hers looked like when she was completely engrossed in a book. Oddly enough, he never looked up from what he was reading. She edged slowly into the clearing, wondering if she should run away, or greet him, or whether it would be rude to interrupt the boy in the first place. Almost everything in her body was telling her to get away, but deep in her gut, there was something about him that drew her closer.

Never one to back away from her gut instinct, Ellie stayed, letting the boy read in peace. She went to work cutting the flowers at the point farthest away from him, trying to be as quiet as possible. She glanced at his back every so often, finding herself increasingly disappointed that he never paid attention to her and increasingly interested in what he was reading. She frowned to herself. Since she turned 17, she had been finding herself able to do more and more strange things, as if healing herself wasn't strange enough. Like surprising people—no one seemed to hear her approach in her adolescence, despite the fact that according to Mother Superior, she had been the loudest walker as a child. And she was becoming amazingly strong. It was as if one day, someone had struck her internal match and instantly all these new abilities had ignited. Maybe hypersensitive smell could be added to the list now. At this rate, she was bound to be discovered by one of the Sisters and shown for the unnatural devil she was quickly becoming and kicked out onto the street. She sighed to herself for the second time that afternoon. She truly was miserable at the convent.

At that sound, the boy jumped up and stared at her in shock. Ellie found herself surprised his eyes weren't the exact same shade of green as hers, when everything else thus far about his appearance was her mirror image. Needless to say, his brilliant topaz eyes threw her for a loop. At the moment, however, they seemed to be glaring at her as if she had three heads.

"Oh… uh, hello. Sorry to have disturbed you," Ellie mumbled, looking down to avoid his intense stare. The boy continued gawking at her as if she was the sideshow freak she so feared she was becoming, and said nothing. This did nothing to assuage her already awkward social skills among people her age. Why was she more comfortable in a room full of ornery old nuns than with one boy her age?

"How did you sneak up on me like that? I didn't even hear you." His voice was surprisingly soft, yet harsh at the same time. It was demanding, Ellie decided, but also betrayed his shock. Ellie had never heard any one voice convey so many things at once.

"I didn't mean to frighten you," she said, venturing to make eye contact. "Although sighing can hardly be considered frightening."

She paused, and waited for his reaction. Maybe he was a timid person, and attacking his reaction was the wrong thing to do. Sister Marguerite always said Ellie's bluntness was both a gift and a curse from God. Although his harsh reaction was hardly appropriate. There was a long pause, and the strange boy finally smiled. Ellie breathed out in relief, and continued.

"And for the record, I didn't sneak up on you; you were just too wrapped up in your book to notice me. I've been right here, cutting flowers for at least a half hour. What are you reading anyway?" She glanced around at his book. "Essays by Emerson? Hmm. I prefer his poetry, myself."

For whatever reason, Ellie's further attempts at further conversation seemed to make the boy shut down and seem uncomfortable. She went to run her hand through her hair, something she did whenever she was uneasy, and then realized she was wearing her habit. As she only recently began her vocation, she was unaccustomed to her habit, and it still surprised her whenever she walked past a mirror or otherwise caught herself wearing it.

"It's the habit, isn't it?" she sighed, taking it off her head and looking at it as she plopped down on a stump closer to the boy. "It still takes me by surprise, too."

"No, no, it's not the habit. You do seem young for vows of chastity, though," he said, smirking. Ellie could tell he was teasing, but meant no harm otherwise. "How old are you? 17?" His voice was as smooth as velvet, yet had an odd tone to it, almost as if he was singing the words. _But he's not,_ Ellie thought. _And no normal human would hear that. God, am I getting hypersensitive hearing too?_

"I'm 19," she said defensively. "Almost 20. Although I haven't grown at all since I was 17, so you're close, I guess. I feel like sometimes I'm going to be stuck in my 17 year-old body forever, you know? How old are you?"

The stranger chuckled. The noise made her ears ring and the hairs at the back of her neck dance, yet it wasn't entirely unpleasant, either. "I'm 19 also. Stuck for eternity in a 17 year-old body as well."

"Well, at least when we're 80, we'll still look young." Ellie smiled, happy that the conversation was taking such a light turn. The strange boy was laughing, and it resonated deep within her, almost like when the boys' choir sang at mass. But different. Much, much different. He was a stranger, but when he laughed and smiled like that, he seemed like a stranger she should know.

"This may sound odd, but I feel like I know you from somewhere," he said. _Like he could read my mind, _Ellie thought. "What's your name?"

"Eleanor. Ellie."

"I had a grandmother named Eleanor, I think. I like that name."

"Ugh, I hate it, you can have it. Although I'm sure your grandmother was a lovely woman," Ellie added, in an effort to avoid offending his newfound friendliness. "It's probably because it was always yelled at me when I did something wrong. It's like this study I was just learning about at the library, done by this man in Russia named—"

"Pavlov! I was just reading about that myself. Conditional reflexes, he calls it." The boy finished her sentence, seeming pleasantly surprised that they had that in common.

"Yes! It's an interesting concept, but I guess you can say I've been conditioned to absolutely abhor my first name. What's yours? Please tell me it's something equally horrid, at least to make me feel better."

"Edward," he said, smiling. "Edward Ma-Cullen. Edward Cullen."

"Were you about to say Masen? That's my last name, and it seems to be a perfectly suitable middle name; nothing to be ashamed of, most unfortunately. Edward Masen Cullen."

Edward paused and considered Ellie for a moment. This sudden change from joy to pensive made Ellie stop dead in her tracks. Her smile froze.

"What?" she asked. Did she offend him by saying his name wasn't horrid enough? She really would never understand people her age.

"No, well," he seemed hesitant to continue. "My middle name isn't really Masen. Masen was my father's last name. When Dr. Cullen adopted me, I took his last name."

"Well, what a strange coincidence," she said in an odd voice. "I guess Masen is a more common last name than I had thought."

She adopted his pensive attitude as well, thinking that maybe it wasn't such a coincidence that a boy her age suddenly shows up in her clearing with hair her exact same shade of bronze and the very same family name, with a grandmother who could very easily be her namesake. As she stood, trying to covertly study Edward's face more closely, she found herself pulling out features that resembled hers. Was that because they were already there, or was it because she was putting them there? The way both their lips were pursed in thought right now was almost identical. Their Roman noses, too—but hers was softer, where his could have been carved from stone. Their eye shape was the same, only the color was changed. The part of her that had always ached to learn about the mother and family she could have had, which she guessed lay somewhere in her gut, started burning.

"What are your parents' names?" Edward asked, interrupting her reverie. Ellie realized he too was studying her features with newfound fascination.

"I don't know. I never knew them."

"Of course not," Edward murmured so quietly, she wondered whether he meant for her to hear. She supposed most people he spoke with didn't have super-hearing like she seemed to be developing.

"Yours?" she inquired, debating whether she really wanted to know.

"Edward and Elizabeth." At this, Ellie threw one hand over her mouth and dropped the basket of flowers she had been gathering.

"My middle name is Elizabeth. Eleanor Elizabeth Masen. I was always told I was named after my mother." Her eyes were wide, and she was subconsciously creeping toward him, so strong was the pull she felt. "Please, what's your birthday?" Her hand still covered her mouth, but things were so quiet in the clearing, she had no concern of her words not reaching him. It was eerily silent; the calm before the storm. Ellie's senses were aflame again as they had been upon first entering the clearing. That sweet smell was back, and it was making her dizzy. As Edward opened his mouth, she realized she didn't need him to answer. She already heard his answer in her head. Was that an illusion, or was that really his voice she heard?

"September 20th," she replied for him. "Oh, my Lord."

She didn't so much as use the name in vain as she did call upon it to help her stay standing. Her breath was coming quicker and quicker as the ache that had been buried in her gut for almost 20 years now was ripped open. She wrapped her arms tightly around her torso, not knowing whether she was trying to comfort herself or keep her insides from spilling out. Edward rose and they stood face-to-face. He was only a few inches taller, a hand's width, at most. His piercing brown gaze met its piercing green equivalent, and they had a moment of realization- or was it recognition? – before her body shut down and the world around her went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Ellie felt herself being wrenched back into reality, feeling as though she had just been beaten from head to toe with a stick. A hard stick. Maybe a pole. Slowly she sensed her surroundings. Was she dead? Where was she? What had happened?

She drew one big blank as to how she had gotten to this point. She was completely unable to move, and her world was still black. But she started to notice certain things.

First was the heat she felt emanating from her body, compared to the cool air of wherever she was. Next was the tingling she felt from head-to-toe. Particularly in her neck. It was uncomfortable, but not entirely painful. Sort of like running cold fingers under warm water after being outside on a cold winter's day.

She could hear a soft, quick, melodic voice nearby (was this what angels sounded like?). Words that were familiar, yet distant. She wondered who was speaking these strange words. She also seemed to be unable to breathe. This bothered her, because she had a peculiar sweet smell she couldn't exactly pinpoint that seemed to be replaying in her head like a song, and she wanted to find out what that was.

As she thought about how very much she would like to breathe, how much her body really wanted air right now, and how nice the cool air would feel surging through her lungs, suddenly her neck felt like it was on fire, and then, just as quickly as the fire started, it stopped. She knew she would be able to take a breath now.

With a deep inhalation of air, many things assaulted her senses at once. That frustratingly sweet scent was back again. But the scent had taken on a new dimension and added more depth, as if a symphony of that smell was being played. It still raised the hairs on the back of her neck, but the smell was familiar now, and not as alarming.

Next was the tingling of every one of her senses, except for sight. The tingling was different from before, and didn't cause her any pain or discomfort. On the contrary, Ellie felt completely in control and confident in her instincts. Yes, that was what they were—not senses necessarily, but instinct. She still couldn't see, but she could tell her body was working on it and she would be able to when she was ready for it. Suddenly the voice she had heard before was louder and more urgent. Still melodic, though, and pleasant to hear.

"Carlisle, that was definitely her breathing. What is going on? She's been dead for hours. I swear I didn't touch her, not that the thought didn't cross my mind. A sister. I never knew I had a sister."

The voice was heartbreakingly sad, and Ellie wanted nothing more than to comfort the speaker. Surely angels never got this sad.

"Her heart wasn't beating when I brought her here," the voice continued. "So I knew it would never work. This is different from Esme, completely different, I agree… When I pulled the scissors out of her neck just now, it was as though her body had been waiting to heal itself. There was no venom in her system, so how is this possible? We have to have done something to her." A pause. "No, I still can't hear her."

Scissors. Scissors had definitely been involved. Long shiny silver pointy shears, perfect for cutting flowers. Flowers—her clearing—the boy with her bronze hair and her nose and her last name—Elizabeth, candidate for the role of absentee mother. The memory of what had happened suddenly popped back into place, like it had been there all along.

Collapsing under the emotional weight of everything she had been feeling, Ellie's head had landed on the basket of flowers she had been busy cutting before her world was turned upside-down. The shears she had been using were sticking straight up as her neck landed perfectly on top of them, piercing through to the other side.

She remembered one of her last thoughts being the phrase Sister Marguerite told her as a child, "Curiosity killed the cat," and then thinking how morbid her sense of humor was. Then she had looked into the fearful eyes of Edward, her possible long-lost brother, and had thought how very much she would have liked to get to know him. And then the world had gone black.

But here she was, listening to Edward have a one-sided conversation with a man whose presence she could definitely sense in the cool room. Why wasn't he responding? It was if she was eavesdropping on a conversation Edward was having over the telephone. She heard this new man—Carlisle, Edward had called him—run incredibly fast up a set of stairs and then heard him scraping open drawers, pulling out instruments, and returning just as fast.

Soon after, she felt someone put a stethoscope to her chest and take her pulse. She also heard the night birds' songs and wondered what time it was. She smelt what she expected was a fainter, more gentle, feminine smell, though it still stung her nose—or was that just the lingering smell of cleaning products? There was an old fire smoldering outside.

She very much wanted to join this world, but still couldn't move. _Edward, brother,_ she thought. _I'm trying. I am._

"Carlisle! Ellie, can you hear me? Keep trying, please. Can you move anything?"

She was wondering if she had gotten the ability to telepathically communicate during the accident. She was indeed getting a freakish laundry list of unnatural abilities. Communicating that way seemed to have worked the first time, but she wanted to hear her own voice against Edward's. She expected their two voices would be harmonious, like a major chord on the piano. She wanted to move. She wanted to see what was going on in this strange new world around her. She wanted to talk to her only connection to her family. Enough was enough.

Coughing and opening her eyes, Ellie forced herself upright, with the help of Edward's cold, strong hands. Judging from what she saw out the window, it was twilight, and she was sitting on a dark wood table in the middle of a sparkling clean, expansive dining room. It was infinitely fancier than anything she had ever seen before, yet understated. She decided the word "tasteful" would fit this place the best.

She looked for Edward and smiled, proud of herself. Mind over matter, she was taught growing up. Well, she did it. But Edward looked like he had seen a ghost rise from the grave. That was when it clicked. She 

froze, and her body became unnaturally still, as it always did when caught in an unpleasant situation. She had just raised herself from the grave. Normal people in tasteful dining rooms should never be able to do that. No one should. And before this point, no one outside of Sister Marguerite, who would rather die than betray Ellie's trust, had known she was able to do that.

She looked fearfully from Edward, who was seeming to be as cautious as he could around what he must have thought was his dangerous freak of a sister, to the new man, Carlisle, who seemed the calm eye of the squalor. Her thoughts were racing.

"Edward, I…" she rambled off, trying to find some way to explain herself. Her voice was hoarse, which seemed to scream "Hey! I just raised myself from the dead!", so she shut her mouth. When she looked down, she noticed she was in a silk dress that was not her own.

"Listen, Ellie…" He paused, glancing at Carlisle, who maintained his aggravatingly calm demeanor. "Do you remember anything that just happened?"

Ellie remained silent. _Silent as the grave,_ she thought. Her best approach would be to figure out what they knew (or thought they knew), and then deflect questions from there. Then she would run away at the first opportunity, back to the convent where she would petition Mother Superior to send her to a cloistered Sisterhood somewhere far, far away. She would probably jump at the opportunity to be rid of her. Leaving Sister Marguerite would be tough, but doable in order to protect the secret they shared. It was like her greatest fears were suddenly being realized so soon after her greatest hopes and dreams had come to play.

"Carlisle," Edward muttered, maintaining his gaze curiously on her eyes. "I'm not getting anything from her. Nothing. Has she gone into shock?" Carlisle exchanged a look with Edward, and stepped forward.

"Ellie, dear, you've just been through a severe trauma. Edward here says you had an accident in the woods before he rushed you here. My name is Carlisle. I'm a medical doctor, and this is our home. I've been treating a Sister at your abbey, Sister Marguerite. Maybe you know her?"

Ellie nodded. So they thought she was a little addled in the head after accidentally stabbing herself with her own scissors. Maybe they could chalk this up to a freak accident, and call it a day. Something about the doctor's voice made her feel safe, and mentioning Sister Marguerite gave her a pang of homesickness for the convent.

"Good, Ellie. Now, I see that you're feeling a little better, but I'd like to check you over more thoroughly before I let you go. Would you be okay with that?"

Ellie cleared her throat, trying to get rid of the scratchiness that was there before, wanting to stop the doctor before a full-out medical examination went underway and blew her cover.

"Actually, sir, I'm feeling fantastic now, better than ever. I must have been out for a while. That happens sometimes. My body just turns off for a bit and does its own repairs. No doctors needed. The Sisters will be worried where I am, so I should probably head back now."

She went to hop down off the table, but Edward stuck out his arm and kept her from going anywhere.

"Wait a second. You don't just go from sprawled-out-dead on our dining room table to scampering home. I want answers. Who are you? No human should be able to do what you just did."

Edward was suddenly harsh, and his change in attitude from caring brother to ruthless interrogator made Ellie flinch. It also woke up her temper. And she didn't appreciate the way he said "human," like it was a dirty word. She exchanged glares with him.

"Edward, enough," Carlisle interjected, putting himself between the pair. "Ellie, dear, please excuse my son's behavior. We're not used to having houseguests. At any rate, your abbey is miles away, so it would require a car ride back. I'll call the convent, tell them that you've had an accident, but are safe now under my care. There is no need to worry. I can give you a ride as soon as you'd like to go home. If we left now, however, it appears we would hit the storm that's been threatening all day. I recommend staying the night here, and going back in the morning. After my son's outburst, I can understand why you would want to leave as soon as feasible. I promise no harm will come to you, either way."

Carlisle had to have been terrified after what he just witnessed her do, and yet here he was, comforting her. Ellie had heard how kind the new doctor was from Sister Marguerite, but was now witnessing firsthand what she meant. Despite Edward's flare-up, she had never felt safer or better taken care of.

"Thank you," she said to Carlisle, hoping she was able to express half the gratitude she felt toward him. "I apologize for forcing my company on you, and also any fright I may have caused you. It was extremely kind of you to take me in. Is there anything I can do to lessen your burden? I mean no harm to you or your family, either, for the record." She added the last part for Edward's benefit, and threw him the nastiest glare she could muster.

"The only thing you could possibly do would be to accept our offer to stay the night. My wife will be delighted, and I promise you will find yourself in better company. Edward, I believe Esme went out for a walk after cleaning up. Could you go find her and tell her the good news?"

Edward stomped out the door in what Ellie imagined to be his version of a hissy fit, although he moved with much more grace than she had anticipated. She prepared herself for a long night.

"Edward and Esme may be a while. Please, let's move to the parlor, it's much more comfortable there."

Carlisle led the way to the next room, lighting lamps as he gracefully maneuvered the space, which was even larger than the first room had been. There was a massive piano in the corner of the room, next to huge windows that took up nearly the entire wall. Weaving her way around the gold-engrained coffee table to an armchair nearest to the piano, Ellie could imagine a happy family gathering in this room. Someone would be playing the piano, and everyone would be singing along. Children would be running around, and the adults would be eating and drinking and laughing. She stopped herself before her imagination got completely away from her. How was it possible to be nostalgic for something that she never had?

"I'm sorry again for Edward's outburst," Carlisle interrupted her thoughts. "He was very much out of line, and sometimes has a temper that surprises even me sometimes."

"You have nothing to apologize for. And I can understand his short temper. I have one too, and it tends to get me into trouble. I'm afraid if you hadn't stepped in between Edward and myself, you would have been witness to it. You should be treating short tempers as a doctor, not physical aches and pains."

Conversation with the doctor was pleasant, and not nearly as strenuous or as awkward as Ellie had anticipated. She had never sat in a parlor before, and so never learned proper "parlor-talk" etiquette. Carlisle smiled kindly.

"Ah, you remind me so much of Edward when you speak. I don't know if Edward got around to telling you, but I treated his parents before they both died of influenza. You look remarkably like Elizabeth. You have her eyes, and you both have her hair. Edward tells me you knew nothing about her."

At this new topic, Ellie's heart sputtered and her palms began to sweat. The doctor wasted no time in getting down to business, did he?

"No, I know nothing. Only that I was dropped on the convent's doorstep as a baby by her—Elizabeth." It hurt to say her name aloud. "I don't know anything else. The Sisters there were kind enough to take me in, and I've been there ever since."

"How unfortunate. I can understand how strong the shock must have been when you came across Edward this afternoon."

"I think describing it as a shock is an understatement. Sir, if you don't mind me asking, how well did you know… Elizabeth?"

Ellie was insane with curiosity about the woman she had never known, yet was unsure how much she wanted to know.

"Well, like I said, I treated her and her husband. Edward the First passed shortly after they came to the hospital, but Elizabeth had an incredible fighting spirit. I believe you get to know the most about a person right before they die. She wanted to be sure that Edward would be taken care of after she passed. Her blazing green eyes, I think, are the reason why I took Edward in. She also mentioned his twin sister, towards the very end."

Ellie got very still. "Please, what did she say?" she whispered.

"I'm not sure if I should continue, dear, you've had enough of a shock. I don't want to upset you any more than you already have been today."

"Please, I've wanted this and waited for it my whole life," she begged, turning the full force of her green eyes upon him.

Sister Marguerite called her look the "eyes of God," and said no one, mortal or deity, would be able to deny her a thing after looking at those eyes. Apparently she had her mother to thank for that. She could only cross her fingers it worked.

"Well, she told me a story about having a little girl with a very special ability. Her family was extremely superstitious, and she knew that keeping the girl would only make her grow up in a hostile environment. She had no idea what to do with her, realizing that the only option was an institution, which wouldn't be much better than keeping her.

"She said that one Sunday, a visiting group of nuns stopped by the church. The love this group showed for the children at church absolutely blew her away. She found out where they were from, and left her baby girl there one night soon after, praying that God would know what to do with her. Elizabeth said she thought about her every day of her life, and prayed that her baby would have the strength to one day forgive her."

Ellie was completely silent, tears filling her eyes. So this was it. This was what she had been waiting to hear for 20 years. She wasn't sure if this knowledge helped the ache in her gut or worsened it, but she was grateful that the doctor told her.

"You were that girl, weren't you?" Carlisle continued gently. "You have a very special gift that I was fortunate enough to witness. You are Elizabeth Masen's daughter, are you not?"

"Yes," she managed to let out. "Yes, I am her daughter. I never knew. I never knew a thing."

As her voice cracked, the doctor hugged her tightly, and she realized that her secret was safe with him. After a long moment, she took a few steadying breaths and gathered her strength. The pain she was feeling was nowhere near close to being over, but at this very moment, she was in charge of her emotions.

"Goodness, I am a mess today," she smiled, wiping her eyes, not sure if any tears had escaped. "First I get myself killed, raise myself from the dead, and then throw myself at you. It's nice to meet you, Dr. Cullen." Ellie stuck out her hand in greeting.

The doctor laughed as he took her hand. He had the same musical laughter as Edward.

"You have no idea how nice it is to meet you, Ellie. But please, call me Carlisle." He paused, still smiling. "Ah, they're back, sooner than I had anticipated. I'm sure my wife will be entirely disappointed that I have offered you neither food nor drink in her absence."

They rose as the front door opened, and Edward and a young woman walked in, her eyes full of motherly concern. Esme Cullen had walked into Ellie's life.


	3. Chapter 3

Having been surrounded by middle-aged nuns her entire life and not much else, Edward and Carlisle's unnatural beauty didn't astound Ellie nearly as much as Esme's did. It almost hurt Ellie's eyes to look at her. Esme's youthful beauty made Ellie feel self-conscious (she must look like death warmed over, literally), and at the same time made her ache for the mother she never had.

Everything about Esme screamed "mama." Her skin emanated that same sweet scent as Edward's and Carlisle's, but hers was a warmer smell, like hot cinnamon buns in the middle of winter. Her eyes were warm amber, and didn't seem to miss a thing. When Ellie met her gaze, she couldn't imagine a single soul being able to get away with much under her watch.

"Ellie, darling," she called in her warm, tinkling voice from the kitchen. "I hope you don't mind that I put you in my dress. You were a right mess when Edward brought you in, and I couldn't stop myself from cleaning you up a bit."

Ellie was in the powder room off the kitchen, washing away the toll the afternoon took on her while Esme made supper. As Carlisle had predicted, Esme was absolutely appalled that she hadn't been fed yet, and had insisted on making a large meal, even though Ellie told her she wasn't very hungry. Edward seemed to have filled Esme in on everything, and the Cullens appeared to have no qualms in taking her freakish self under their wing. After a prompt from Esme, even Edward had apologized and now seemed to be on his best behavior.

"Thank you so much. For everything," Ellie said to Esme as she exited the powder room, clean and refreshed. "You really don't need to do all this. I'm deeply indebted to you and your family."

"Nonsense, sweet," Esme replied, cupping Ellie under her chin with strong, cold hands. Every time Esme called her "sweet" or "dear" or "darling," a tiny part of Ellie swooned. "I am just so relieved to finally have another female under my roof. Now if you could be a dear and have a seat while I get the boys, we're ready to eat."

The supper was amazing, and the conversation flowed comfortably. For the first time in her life, Ellie felt part of a family unit. And although she really didn't feel hungry in the slightest, Ellie forced the food down to placate Esme, who seemed to be watching her closely out of the corner of her eye. It seemed odd to be eating off the same space that her dead body had been laying on not too long ago. She wondered if that was the reason for her lack of appetite.

Once everyone seemed to be done with dinner (no one else seemed to be hungry either, Ellie noticed), Ellie rose automatically to clear the table.

"Oh no, Ellie, I couldn't imagine allowing a guest to clear the table," Carlisle said, rising from his chair. "Why doesn't Edward show you around the house, I'm sure you two have a lot of catching up to do. Esme and I will get this."

Ellie found herself surprisingly nervous to be alone with Edward. Although she was sure he wouldn't be rude again (he would most likely have Esme's motherly wrath to deal with), the way he was staring at her with frustration all dinner when he thought she wasn't looking made her uneasy.

"Well," Edward started once Esme and Carlisle exited to the kitchen, "you've seen pretty much all the first floor has to offer. Let's go to my room, I want to show you something that I think you'll like."

Ellie's interest was piqued. She had a feeling Mother Superior would absolutely disapprove of her seeing a boy's bedroom unsupervised, even if it was only her brother. Edward pointed out the other rooms on the second floor as they wound their way down the hall, pausing only to explain the large wooden cross ornamenting the end of the hall. Ellie was impressed by its age, and was interested that Carlisle had a religious upbringing in common with her.

Her jaw dropped, however, once Edward lit the lamps in his room. A floor-to-ceiling bookshelf took over an entire wall of his enormous room, and it was teeming with books she loved, and those she had been dying to read. He had one of those rolling ladders to get to the top, something she had only ever seen in the abbey library.

The other side of the room had an equally impressive stack of records and a phonograph. His bed and a loveseat were the only other things in his room. The pair started talking animatedly about their favorite books and poems, and Edward weighed Ellie down with a large stack of books to take back to the convent with her in the morning. Ellie wondered if this would be permitted in the abbey, and then realized she didn't care. Edward grew serious as she started perusing a book of poetry on his loveseat. She sensed his change in mood, and looked up.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Well," he said hesitantly. "I just wanted to let you know something."

He seemed nervous, which brought back Ellie's forgotten nervousness from earlier in the evening.

"Go on."

"Well, first, I think what you can do is amazing. And I want you to know that your secret's safe with me. And Carlisle and Esme, too, for that matter. But also, I want to share with you what I can do."

Ellie got stock-still. "What you can do?" she repeated.

"Yes. It seems you're not the only one in our family with special abilities." He hesitated for the briefest moment. "I can read people's thoughts."

She was speechless for a second.

"Their thoughts?"

"Yes, everything a person is thinking."

Edward hesitated again, waiting for her judgment.

"Really."

Ellie was flabbergasted, but was trying to play it off. After all, Edward took the fact that she could raise herself from the dead extremely well, and she felt she owed this to him.

"What am I thinking now?"

She concentrated as hard as she could on not letting him in, wanting to give him a hard time, and also partly because she didn't want him to see what she was really thinking about his apparent gift.

"Well, I don't know with you for certain. The way it works on you is a bit spotty, I think you have to want me to hear what you're thinking in order for me to hear it. All dinner I was trying to pick something up from you, but I couldn't. Right now, for instance, I can see you don't want me to hear your thoughts. But nothing else. I can hear Esme and Carlisle's downstairs as clear as a bell."

Ellie considered this for a second.

_Prove it, _she thought at Edward.

"There you go! I heard that."

Ellie looked at his excited face, and laughed. "Well, it's good to know I'm not the only freak in the family."

Edward looked relieved. "You have no idea," he laughed.

"And I do feel a bit comforted that you can't read _all_ my thoughts. It's nice to know I have some semblance of privacy," Ellie said. _Brother, _she added in her head for his benefit.

He smiled.

"I wonder if that's because we're twins, you know."

With that small acknowledgement of each other, Edward and Ellie started sharing bits of themselves they had never before told another person, sitting side-by-side on the loveseat. As each new morsel was shared, it was as if the walls they both had set up around themselves against the world slowly started falling down. It was a slow process, but at least it was progressing.

They found out that they both had lived in Illinois their entire lives. Edward shared stories of living close to the city, and Ellie shared what it was like growing up far from a city. They found that although they had been raised in very different environments, they ended up with very similar beliefs and tastes. Both loved music and Shakespeare. They both had dreams of helping others, and both were just as lost as how to go about achieving this.

Edward was considering university and following in Carlisle's footsteps, and Ellie wanted nothing more than to leave Illinois and see the world. It was clear that the love and respect Edward had for his surrogate parents was never-ending, and Ellie found herself enchanted with his life. She explained that Sister Marguerite was her role model and parental figure at the convent, but was really nothing like 

Esme and Carlisle, with the sole exception being the tolerance she had for Ellie's outspoken nature. When Edward laughed, she laughed, and when she was sad, Edward was sad.

"This is amazing," she sighed contentedly. "You know, finally having someone to share everything with. I never realized how much I've been missing until just now. It feels so perfect."

Edward grew solemn again. It was an odd kind of mood that kept popping up all night, Ellie realized.

"What is it?" Ellie asked. "You've had something on the tip of your tongue all night, but keep stopping yourself. We've gotten this far, don't hold out on me now. Spill the beans."

She pleaded at him with her eyes, wishing she could read his mind as well.

Edward looked at the power of her gaze, and hesitated once more, looking down at his hands while Ellie's eyes bored holes into him. He wondered how much he could tell her. Carlisle had told him about the Volturi, and he knew that if there were any one law for vampires, it was keeping the fact that you're a vampire a secret. What would sharing this mean for her? Would they come after his sister? Maybe the fact that she could heal herself would come in handy, so long as there was someone left to put her pieces back together for her.

"I'm sorry, did you just say, 'Volturi'?" Ellie interrupted his thoughts.

"Excuse me?" If his heart was beating, it would be stopped now.

"Maybe I'm losing it. I could have sworn you just mumbled something that sounded like 'Volturi.' And vampires, too. And something about me being strewn about in pieces."

This was not good. Edward was speechless. Could she read minds, too?

Ellie looked into his eyes and grabbed his hands.

"Wait a second. Now you're freaking out about the Volturi and vampires and the me-in-pieces bit. This is amazing. Think of something else."

For once, not a single thought could come to his head. Then Ellie started pinching the skin at the bridge of her nose, just like he did when he was thinking hard, and that started a backflow of memories from earlier in the day.

Their first realization that they were related, followed promptly by him watching shocked as she impaled herself on her shears. Which then reminded him of the deep thirst he had felt as he watched the blood spurt from the meaty vein in her neck. Carlisle had warned him of the dangers of being a new vampire around humans, and even though he had three years of vampire experience on him and had just been hunting earlier in the day, the thirst he felt was absolutely maddening. He had held his breath the entire time he ran back to the house, with the sole thought "she's my sister, she's my sister," running through his head.

When he had brought her in, blood cold and long dead, Esme still had a hard time not ripping her body to shreds, even with holding her breath. Esme had been with them for little over a year, and though her eyes had just about gotten rid of the crimson in exchange for topaz, she still had a long ways to go. She then left to go hunting, came back apologetically to clean up the blood that had dripped everywhere, disposed of Ellie's bloodied clothes in a bonfire in the back, and then went hunting again, if only to clear her head.

When Edward found her, she was to pieces over thirsting for such a young girl. She was fighting between her thirst as a vampire and the innate maternal instinct to nurture and care for the poor thing. Edward had never understood how she could have flung herself off a cliff as a human, but in that moment, he could see how she had gotten herself to that point.

At this thought, Edward had to slam on his mental brakes, realizing that Ellie's eyes widening in shock were not because he had been silent this entire time.

"Sweet Jesus," Ellie whispered.

Edward suspected that like in the clearing before, she wasn't using the name in vain as much as she was using it as a leaning post. There was a long pause.

"Well," she said. "I guess the whole selective mind-reading thing is mutual." She offered him a small smile.

Edward jumped off his half of the loveseat and began pacing nervously, wondering if her seeing this had been a mistake.

"Shh, relax; give me a moment. I just witnessed myself falling through a pair of scissors and lying dead and cold and crusted over with blood. I'm going to need a minute or two."

Unbelievably, she grabbed his hand and pulled him back down to a seated position while she collected herself. He waited. Eventually, she looked into his eyes.

_There. All better. We're going to have to work on that._

As he opened up his mouth to respond, she cupped her hand over it.

"No, try me. Only this time, less images, and more words. And stop thinking about me dead."

He stared, skeptically, into her eyes. _Is this working?_ he thought, at a loss of what else to say.

_Yes! Unbelievably, yes it is. _

Edward's eyes widened in shock.

_Close your eyes, _she continued. _See if we can do this without looking at each other._

_This isn't going to work,_ he thought, his eyes shut tightly.

His thoughts came across her mind fuzzy at first, but then Ellie realized it was like tuning a radio to the right station.

"Ha!" she said triumphantly. "I knew we could do it! This is absolutely amazing, is this how it's like for you all the time?"

"Not at all, really," Edward admitted. "With other people, I can hear constant streams of their thoughts. It can get overwhelming, and it took me a while at first to be able to filter it out. But with you, it's comes across very clear and very loud. It's like your thoughts are much stronger than everyone else's. Let's go downstairs; I want to ask Carlisle what he thinks."

Entering the sitting room where Carlisle sat reading and Esme sketched, absentmindedly humming along to the radio, Ellie wasn't sure what to expect. From Edward's thoughts, she knew vampires had super-hearing like she was starting to develop, and she was sure they heard everything that had transpired upstairs. Would they be upset that Edward blew their cover?

As with everything else that had happened today, Ellie was pleasantly surprised that they both seemed to have taken it all in stride. Esme seemed a bit more cautious around Ellie, but still just as warm, and Carlisle was absolutely in his element, discussing his different scientific theories on how Ellie and Edward were connected.

Most of the details went right over Ellie's head, but she understood the gist—Carlisle seemed to think that because she and Edward shared space in Elizabeth's womb, they shared an unbreakable bond. He wondered aloud how else the two were connected, and Edward nonverbally shared with Ellie some of Carlisle's errant thoughts.

The doctor found it particularly interesting that Ellie hadn't changed at all since she was 17 and seemed to be developing extra "powers" as Edward had since that age, and wondered if it was possible Ellie could be immortal simply because Edward had become so. Or maybe because her body healed itself, she would just never grow old, and would continue to improve herself genetically as time progressed.

Ellie could see that the concept of having a sister to spend the rest of eternity with made Edward incredibly excited, which made her excited, but at the same time she found herself becoming increasingly overwhelmed with all the new information the day had brought upon her. Even in the fantastical world where the Cullens belonged, Ellie was an oddity, which wasn't very comforting to her. Adding that to the already stressful new thoughts of her mother that plagued her mind, and she was starting to feel the strange urge to run out the door.

She had noticed Esme watching her carefully all night, and when the clock chimed midnight, Esme stopped Edward and Carlisle's excited conversation that Ellie had become less and less involved in.

"Enough, boys. Ellie has had an extraordinarily long day, let her get some rest."

Ellie exchanged a grateful look with Esme, and Esme led her upstairs, showing her where she would be staying and giving her a change of clothes and a nightgown to borrow. She was sleeping in a makeshift guest room, which was normally Esme's studio.

After Esme left, she changed into the gown that emanated Esme's comforting scent and turned off the lamps. As she did this, she looked around at Esme's paintings, bathed in the moonlight. There were watercolors and landscapes, but what caught Ellie's eye the most was a picture of Esme and a small baby. It was a simple sketch, but it was extremely detailed, and the love flowing from the lines Esme had drawn was obvious. She had never seen another picture like it before.

Ellie wondered about the life Esme led before becoming a vampire. That thought dominated her mind as she drifted off to sleep in the sweet fragrance of the Cullen house.


	4. Chapter 4

Ellie tossed and turned as strange dreams assaulted her that night. She dreamt of a faceless mother with auburn, flowing hair, and also of Esme cradling a mysterious baby, but with red, blood-thirsty eyes. In another dream, she was in a dark, mysterious alley and all of her senses were smoldering, as they had been in the clearing earlier.

Edward was with her, leading the way, and she proceeded behind him cautiously, on high alert. She could feel trouble brewing in the air. As Edward approached the mouth of the alley, he was suddenly jumped by a wild, feral-looking man. Edward yelled in her head to run as he inexpertly took on the man.

She stood, frozen, as the man overtook her brother. Edward's superhuman strength should have crushed the man in two, but amazingly, he was losing. A crisp breeze blew through the alley, and she realized by the man's bitingly sweet smell, he was a vampire, and Edward's strength was outmatched. Every protective instinct she owned ignited as she stepped forward.

"HEY!" she shouted, trying to distract Edward's attacker. The man twisted Edward's arm behind his back, and trapping him, turned around to face her.

Using her own superhuman strength, she dug her index finger's nail into her opposite hand's palm, and traced the crease there. Ignoring the pain, she held up her hand and stretched it, preventing the skin from touching and instantly healing. Blood seeped down her arm, and the attacker's crimson eyes grew wild with thirst as he crouched forward slowly, letting go of Edward.

_Edward_, she thought calmly, not breaking eye contact with their attacker. _Go get Carlisle. I can hold him off until then._

Edward hesitated at the mouth of the alley. In his moment's hesitation, she looked up to tell him to get moving, and the attacker jumped at her, pushing her to the ground. He pressed his body on top of hers as he brought his mouth to her throat. Edward jumped on his back, but he flung him aside, continuing as if never interrupted.

The man bit her, and the pain burnt through her entire body. As the venom coursed through her veins in exchange for her blood, instead of feeling weakened as she expected, she felt unbelievably strong. Her body felt like it burst into flames, what it had been threatening to do since she came into the alley, and she suddenly knew she was in charge.

She flipped her attacker over, and now she was the one on top. The offending vampire's eyes widened in fear as she pinned him to the ground. Her brain checked out as her instincts took over, and in a split second, she knew what to do.

She let go of her hands, channeling all of her burning body heat to them, and held them, her palms to his temple, sandwiching his head. Suddenly, the attacker was screaming and thrashing, and a thick, fragrant purple smoke started coming out of his body as he burnt into ashes. Her brain kicked back in once he was gone, and she looked at her hands in fear and disgust, as she realized she just single-handedly murdered a vampire, someone who could have been her brother or his beloved family.

She sat up in bed, woken from her nightmare by her own screaming. The thunderstorm was raging outside, and Esme was at the doorway of her room.

"Ellie, sweet, what happened?"

Esme's eyes were filled with motherly concern, and as Ellie looked at them, the residual terror from her nightmare mixed with her emotional exhaustion, and she broke down.

"Just -a-nightmare," she said between gasps.

Esme sat down next to her, and wrapped her cold stone arms around her.

"Shh, dear, you're safe now."

This caused her even more hysterics. Saying nothing at all, Esme held her tighter, and Ellie collapsed into her sturdy body. Esme started humming something, smoothing Ellie's hair gently with her fingertips. Ellie's sobs strengthened as she allowed herself to fully own the pain she had kept bottled inside for nearly two decades.

A long time later, the thunderstorm stopped raging, and Ellie finally stopped too, having run out of tears and pain, her breathing still rough. Esme continued cradling her, still humming that comforting song, and Ellie rested her head on Esme's chest, hearing only her rhythmic breathing and the melody resonating softly in her lungs. After a moment, Esme finally spoke.

"It feels good to finally get it out, doesn't it?" she asked quietly.

As Ellie lifted her head slightly to look at her, she saw that Esme's eyes were nearly as red-rimmed as hers must be, and it looked like she hadn't been the only one crying. Ellie wondered if she had just said that for Ellie's benefit or her own.

"Did Edward tell you how I came to join our family?" Esme murmured, looking down at Ellie.

Ellie shook her head silently, absolutely drained and not wanting to ruin the magic web Esme's voice spun around them. Esme was silent in thought for a minute before continuing.

"I was married, and my new husband had been shipped off to the war within a month of our wedding. I realize now how much of a stranger he was to me, but there was nothing I wanted more than a family of my own. This man seemed to be able to give that to me, and I loved him for that.

"A few weeks after he left, I went to the doctor, feeling sick, and found out I was pregnant. In that very moment, I fell completely in love with my baby. Everything else seemed to pale in comparison to the emotion I felt.

"The next few months, I was in heaven with all the preparations. My mother was helping me put together the nursery, and I was so proud to have a family to show my husband once he came home 

from the war. I was finishing a sweater I was knitting for the new baby one morning when I started having horrible pains. I was only six months along, so I knew it was too early to be having the baby. Something was wrong. I called my sister, who lived down the street, and she rushed me to the hospital.

"At the hospital, the doctor told me I had lost my baby sometime during the night, and my body was rejecting the fetus. I was going through labor, and I gave birth a few hours later to a tiny, blue, silent baby boy. I was able to hold him for a few minutes before the nurses took him away. I remember being so upset that I couldn't make myself cry for my lost boy, to mourn properly for him. My body shut down." Esme's voice cracked, and Ellie could feel her steeling herself before continuing.

"The grief I felt was bottomless. It's the strongest human memory I have. I felt absolutely hopeless, a complete failure. My purpose in life was to raise a family, and here my body was incapable. When I was sent home that evening, my mother was there. I was absolutely dead inside, and went straight to bed, though I couldn't sleep at all. I was listless, and there was a full moon. My entire body craved the fresh air, and I snuck out. I had no idea where I was going, but I put one foot in front of the other, following the moon.

"What could have been hours or minutes later, I found myself standing on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the most beautiful valley I had ever seen, lit up by the full moon. It was if I was possessed. I was not in control of my actions.

"Next to me, an owl called out before soaring off over the valley. I remember being so enchanted, and so jealous, of this bird's ability to fly above everything. I wanted to be as free as that owl and feel the wind whipping through my body. I had no other thought running through my head than to fly as I took a step off the cliff and jumped.

"The next thing I remember is waking up, barely, in the morgue of the hospital. Everything was hazy from the pain I felt, and the levity of what I had just done hit me. As I opened my eyes, I saw the most beautiful man in the world looking down at me. I looked into his concerned golden brown eyes, and I remember thinking how sad it was to have met your soul mate only moments before you die. I grabbed his hand and held it as tightly as I could before everything went black.

"Three days later, I woke up. My angel had been Carlisle, who was working the late night shift in mortuary when I was taken there straightaway by the people who had found my mangled body. They thought I was dead, but Carlisle knew better, and said there was something in the way I looked at him that made him want to save me in my last moments and give me eternal life like him.

"I am so grateful to him for seeing that, and for giving me another chance at life. Carlisle is my life's mate and everything I realize now that I have ever wanted or needed. Edward is the son I wish my baby could have grown up to be. The two of them are my world. I only hope that being a good wife to Carlisle and a mother to Edward, and you too, will help make up for what I have done."

Esme paused for a long time and Ellie thought about her story. She had been taught that taking your own life was a direct insult to God, and these sinners were sent directly to hell, no questions asked. But 

the more she thought, the more she realized how wrong it would be to send someone like Esme to hell. Esme didn't belong there. Esme had the pure intentions of an angel, and Ellie knew that God would understand that and take pity on her. He had to. She realized Mother Superior, though, would have no problem sending Esme straight to the fiery pits of Hell, and she hugged Esme tighter as this thought flit across her mind. Esme drew strength from her hug, and went on.

"I know how much you're hurting right now, honey, I do. Although the grief I feel for my baby boy is much less painful than when I was human, it's still there. I'm a mother who lost her baby, and you're a baby who lost her mother. Our pain is caused by the same missing piece of the puzzle," Esme said thickly.

Looking into her eyes, Ellie saw tears that would never fall. With what little strength she had left, a few more cleansing tears fell silently down Ellie's face. She wasn't sure who she was crying more for, but it seemed that with those tears, the last few drops of pain the two women shared were leaving them. Esme drew her closer and kissed her forehead. She hummed that same song again into Ellie's hair, holding her tighter still, and Ellie fell asleep as the sky lightened, listening to Esme's lullaby mixed in with the light rain pattering on the roof.


	5. Chapter 5

When Ellie woke up, she felt completely rested. Remembering where she was, she saw that Esme had stayed beside her all night, and had wrapped her snugly in a quilt. She was touched. Esme looked at Ellie, smiling and ruffling her hair as she struggled against the blankets to sit up.

"You slept well," she said.

"What time is it?" Ellie's voice was hoarse beside Esme's.

"Sometime around mid-afternoon. The boys were extremely concerned, Edward especially. They both came in to check on you, but I sent them away. I said you'd wake up when you're ready."

"Thank you," Ellie said. "For everything. I really do feel so much better."

"Good. You look better, too, honey. Hungry, though. How about some lunch before you head back?"

Ellie had forgotten she didn't belong in the house, and her face fell. She felt like a completely different person than when she had left the convent. Even though only one day had passed, she couldn't imagine returning there.

"I'm not hungry," she pouted.

"Now, now," Esme chided, and she started braiding her hair. "I'll make you a sandwich for the road. Carlisle called the convent and said you'd be home by supper, so you should get going soon. I have a fresh dress for you to change into, and a scarf for your hair. Edward went back to the clearing last night, but couldn't find your habit, so you'll have to make do with that. There." Esme patted her bronze hair. Her braid was finished in no time flat. "Now get changed and freshen up, we'll all be downstairs waiting for you."

Planting a kiss on her forehead, Esme left her so she could dress. Edward greeted her with a bouquet of flowers as she dragged herself down the stairs a short while later for the inevitable farewells.

"I felt bad that you lost the flowers you had so meticulously cut, so I went back to find some to take to the abbey with you," he said, smirking and handing over the beautiful wildflowers. "I'll be by shortly to visit, maybe tomorrow, if that's okay. Sister Ellie," he said, throwing his arm around her shoulders as he walked her outside where Esme and Carlisle were waiting.

"Ellie, dear, I put a few sandwiches in here and some food from last night. Edward threw in some books he insisted you needed to read as well, so it might be a little heavy. Come back to visit us soon," Esme said, pulling her into a hug. "Be strong, baby. I love you enough for two mothers," she whispered into Ellie's ear, as she climbed into Carlisle's shiny car.

Esme put the basket in at her feet, kissing her on the cheek before closing the car door. As they pulled away, Ellie turned around, waving goodbye to her newfound family until they disappeared from view.

"Carlisle, thank you again," Ellie said, facing forward in her seat to look at the doctor.

"Of course, Ellie. And thank you, too. You are exactly what Esme needed, I think. Edward, too. I hope you've been able to get what you've needed from us."

"You have no idea," Ellie said heartily.

"Good. You're family now. If you ever need us, we're only a phone call away. Maybe closer, considering what you and Edward can do," he smiled.

Ellie's heart was warm and bright as they drew closer to the convent, even though the day was ending just as gray and dreary as it had started. She felt like a new, stronger person. Maybe her rebirth yesterday had been a bigger deal than she had thought.

As they pulled up to the convent, one of the Sisters came running out.

"Thank the Lord, doctor! It's Sister Marguerite, she's taken a turn for the worse."

Remembering her convent mother, the warmth left Ellie's heart instantly as she sprinted for the Sister's room next to Dr. Cullen.

What felt like days later, but what was really only later that night, Ellie was sitting on the hard floor of her small room at the convent, next to the bed. She could hear the hall clock in the foyer downstairs ticking slowly as she sat completely still, in the same position she had been in for the past several hours. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Arms wrapped around her legs, she had been sitting here, staring at the letter addressed to "Eleanor" in scrawling letters on the floor in front of her as it had grown dark, not bothering to get up and light a lamp.

Only a few hours before, she had held Sister Marguerite's hand as she took her last breath. With her last words, the Sister had told Ellie about a letter her mother had written to her. She said it was in an envelope in her nightstand, and as Ellie pulled it out, handling it as though it were a holy object, the Sister told her breathily how her mother had directly handed baby Ellie over to her 20 years ago, with the instructions to give her the letter when she was old enough.

Mother Superior had kicked the stunned girl out of the room once Sister Marguerite had passed and the doctor left so they could make arrangements for her body. As Ellie fingered the tiny gold cross she now wore around her neck that Sister Marguerite had given her at her Confirmation, she tried to gather enough strength to open the letter.

_Just open the letter,_ she thought to herself. _C'mon. You can do it. Don't be chicken. _

Instead, Ellie reached for the basket the Cullens had given her. It had sat untouched until this point. Opening it up, she found a note on top of the sandwiches from Esme.

"Sweet Ellie, be strong," was all it said.

Underneath the sandwiches were the books from Edward. The first was her favorite, _Romeo and Juliet._ The next was a book of Emily Dickinson's poems that she had wanted to read. The last one, curiously, was titled _Woman's Bible._ It was written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the women responsible for woman's suffrage, and a person frequently condemned by Mother Superior. As she opened the book, she found a note from Edward and smiled as she read it.

_Sister Ellie_, he wrote, having made the "t" in "sister" into an ornate and graphic crucifix. _Laugh as you will for me having owned this book, but I believe it is something you will find interesting. Esme bought it for me in an attempt to educate me on the female species in one of her first outings in Chicago after her "transformation." She was so proud of herself, and I remember thinking she could have handed me the worst book in the world, and I would have taken it gleefully. I suspect you haven't been made as aware as you should of the suffragettes, but I feel as though you would appreciate their stance in life. It's yours now; read this and let me know what you think. And pray for me as you read, because I appear to be tempting a holy woman into a world of sinful independence. Your loving brother, Edward._

The "y" in "your" was a pitchfork, of course, and she smiled at her brother's brashness as she began to peruse the book. The book was about the fallacy of a religious life, and how it was a tool to keep women subservient to men. Ellie found herself agreeing with most, if not all of the book, and she smiled and shook her head as she closed it. She should probably pray for herself as well. What was she doing here, in a place run by a woman she could not bring herself to agree with?

She heard the clock downstairs chime two in the morning. After her eventful past few days, she wondered if her sleep schedule was ever going to go back to normal. And she hadn't eaten in more than a day, yet she didn't find herself hungry in the slightest.

She took a deep breath as she caught sight of the yellowed envelope again, untouched in its place on the floor. _Here goes nothing_, she thought as she nervously fingered the cross around her neck. As she opened the letter, an old photograph fell out. Ellie assumed it was her and Edward as babies with Elizabeth.

Looking at the two of them, nearly identical as pudgy infants, Ellie smiled fondly. She had her hand pressed against Edward's head, as if to push him out of the spotlight. Baby Edward had the same frustrated, stubborn expression she could see grown Edward wearing. She held the photo lovingly at her chest as she continued with the letter.

_My dearest Eleanor_, it started._ As I sit on these convent steps under a full moon, I am plagued with the wrongness of what I am about to do. It goes against my very nature as a mother to be doing this—to leave my beautiful baby girl, who I spent nine beautiful months sharing everything with, to complete strangers. I have to pray and keep faith that you will be taken care of, however. These women seem to _

_be full of love, love that you would only feel from me, and most likely your brother, if you were to stay with us. _

_My baby girl, you have been blessed with the most extraordinary gift I have ever witnessed. God must have had special plans in mind when he made you, and I only wish I knew why he chose to give you to a family that is as superstitious as your father's. You see, my family died when I was younger, and I met your father when I lived with my grandmother—your great-grandmother Eleanor, the strong woman you are named for. The Masens seemed so strong and full of faith, which is why I fell in love with all of them, but I wish they were also filled with understanding and unconditional love. Your grandparents are wrong when they say you are a child of the devil, for I can't imagine any child of the devil having as meltingly sweet a face as yours._

_And so, we come to goodbye. I know you're safe here. You're in the hands of God now. Maybe that's what He intended in the first place. My sweet, sweet baby, I wish several things for you in your life as you grow older. First, I wish that you are never ashamed of who you are. You are an extraordinary creature of God, and you should be proud of that. Second, I hope you know how much I love you, and can someday forgive me for what I've done. And lastly, and most importantly, I hope you live every day of your life doing what God has intended for you, without a shred of regret. I know you're meant to do big things, and I want you to never be afraid to do what is right. If you should ever doubt yourself, look deep into your heart, and there you will find the answer._

_I will think of you every day until the day I die. You will always be in my heart, and in my prayers. I love you. Elizabeth Masen._

The letter was splotched with tears, and yellowed with age. At the very end, "Your mama" had been crossed out. Ellie looked into her heart, as the letter had suggested, expecting sadness and more tears, but was surprised when she felt the ache deep inside begin to heal.

This letter gave her closure, but most of all, it gave her an answer. This letter came at the exact time that she needed it, and at 2:30 that fateful morning, she took off her makeshift habit from Esme and began to stuff her few possessions into the basket from the Cullens, carefully stowing Elizabeth's letter and picture underneath one of her colorless dresses.

She wrote a quick note thanking the Sisters for all they had given her, and told them she left to be with her true family and was safe. Realizing it was far too late for a phone call, she thought as hard as she could, _Edward, I'm leaving, please come get me. I'm starting to walk to the house now_. Hoping her message would be received, she set off into the night.


	6. Epilogue

She had been walking for an hour, guided by the full moon and the muddy tire tracks the doctor's car had left earlier in the day. The sky had cleared, and she could hear the creatures around her in the pleasant summer night full of life, drawn to action by the brightness of the white orb hanging in the sky. She thought of Esme and Elizabeth, her two mothers, as the moon cast shadows around her. Drastic decision-making under a full moon was something she had in common with her mothers. She heard a car in the distance, and felt Edward's presence approaching as she stopped at the side of the road.

"You drove fast. It took Carlisle at least twice as long to get here," she greeted Edward as she climbed in.

"Well, he had less inspiration to rescue his sister." Edward grinned the lopsided grin they both had, and then his face dropped into a serious mask. "And, so help me, if you decide to take off in the middle of the night again, you're going to have a lot more resurrections of yourself coming. Scissor impalement is going to look like a walk in the park compared to what you have waiting for you if you pull this again. Do you have any idea what could have been out here, waiting for some girl to walk across their paths?"

As Edward ranted, Ellie couldn't help but smiling. Unlike the other reprimands and threats she received in her life, this one was full of love, and she knew her brother wouldn't touch a hair on her head. She felt herself drifting to sleep as Edward continued, and barely woke up once they pulled up to the fully-lit house that was now her home. Esme and Carlisle came out onto the porch, and she flew into her new parents' open arms.

"Welcome home, baby," said Esme. "You're lucky I started setting up your room the second you left. It's not quite done yet, but I think you'll like it. And we'll have to get you some new clothes tomorrow in town, but for now, I gave you some of mine to borrow."

She was half asleep as she stumbled into her new room, formerly Esme's studio, but was shocked awake as she saw the incredible changes it had undergone in only a few hours' time. Esme had framed a few of her brighter watercolors, and the place was absolutely ornamented in fresh flowers that had once belonged to her clearing. Everything was bright and cheery.

Ellie stacked her books and propped the picture of her and Edward up on the top of her new dresser, and crawled into the nightgown that smelled like Esme. She curled up under the sheets; falling asleep immediately, with pleasant dreams of what would come tomorrow, and the days and years after, with her new family.

* * *

**And that's a wrap, everyone who was brave enough to stick it out 'til the end! Please, for the umpteenth time, let me know if you loved it or hated it, I definitely appreciate criticism. It's the only way I'll learn, and I'll just keep posting things that you will most likely accidentally come across online in the future. So review, or send me a message, or do whatever it is you choose to communicate on this thing. **

**Also, I already have an idea for a sequel to this, set when the Cullens are in Forks for the first time. And, if you read Harry Potter, I've been working on something for that, too :)**


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